A SIGNIFICANT deal has been agreed over the future of Perdiswell Park - with the Worcester City FC stadium saga rumbling on.

All 35 city councillors will need to have a vote on the land's future before it can be sold, rented or transferred to the football club for a new ground.

The agreement has been secured by Cllr Gareth Jones, a former Mayor of Worcester, who is against the site being developed for a stadium and wants it to remain untouched.

While it does not place the project in immediate peril, it means the club does now have another hurdle to jump over if it finally secures planning permission for the site.

Worcester City Council owns the land, with the club's supporter's trust drawing up the application for a 4,100-capacity stadium in a bid to bring the Blue and Whites back home.

Until now a deal over handing the club the land was expected to be made by either the Labour cabinet or under the 'delegated authority' of an officer behind closed doors.

Cllr Jones said: "The Labour group have been having private meetings with Worcester City FC, but the council as a whole is the landowner of Perdiswell.

"I don't want any decision over this land to be done by the cabinet or it to be delegated to anyone else, we should all have a say.

"It's important for local democracy that we all get a vote, not just a select few."

A motion insisting on a vote at full council before the land's status can be changed was approved on a cross-party basis this week.

It comes as council chiefs have revealed how no decision will now be made on the planning application until 2017.

The club was hoping the planning committee may take a vote on it in December, but due to various bits of paperwork still needing to be tied up and a consultation, the first three months of next year is now the best estimate.

A spokesman for the council said: "It will not be going to the planning committee in December."

Meanwhile, the club's supporter's trust say they are not concerned about Cllr Jones' move.

Rob Crean, from the trust, said: "To be honest this is what I was expecting anyway, I see it as a good thing that everyone will get their say."

The club has been exiled since 2013, playing their fixtures at Kidderminster and now Bromsgrove.